Russia YouTuber Makes ‘AMG’ Wheels Made from Steel
These replica AMG wheels prove that anyone with a grinder and arc welder can become a master fabricator.
What happens when you have a cutting wheel, a grinder and an ability to grind down welds? You get the idea to make stylized steel wheels to look like alloy wheels. Or rather, the answer to a question absolutely no one asked. The idea is somewhat simple. Take square steel tubing and weld it to the outer barrel of the rim and attach it to the inner hub. If you do this while most of the steel wheel is in place, you should in theory be able to have a true wheel. Garage 54 on YouTube aims to make wheels that look like AMG wheels.
Translating from Russian, the Garage54 host says “alright, I say we make ourselves something, throw it on a car and head out to do some testing.” As each spoke is put in place, that section of the whee’s drum is then cut out. It is interesting how the “spokes” are attached at the hub. Some of them are a T-joint, some are a V, so it appears as though each spoke is different.
After everything is tack-welded in place, and the original drum of the wheel is removed, it was time to fully weld everything in place. Mind you, these welds were done not on bare metal, but on the painted rim. Not exactly how we would have done it, but to each their own. An “AMG” tab on the rim was even included. The welds were then ground down (a necessity) the rim was painted silver, and a studded snow tire was added.
“So we’ve mounted the wheel. Now it is time to go for a ride and see how the wheel holds up,” says the host. After putting just the one wheel on a W201, they go for some snow driving. Credit where it is due, the rim seems to hold up. But the host notes, “you can feel at low speeds that something is wrong.”
That doesn’t stop them from highway driving and snow burnouts though. After looking at the rim trueness the rim is definitely more orbital than round, but they are proud of their accomplishment. There’s no word on if they will complete the other three rims for a full set, but we get the feeling this is why Russians have dash cams.
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